Emma Raducanu risks missing out on important US Open objective after disappointing Canadian Open third-round exit

Britain’s Emma Raducanu is going through a mixed season. The 22-year-old has managed to find some consistency in the recent past, but that is seemingly enough to achieve one of her goals ahead of the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year.

The US Open 2025 will begin on August 24, where players from all over the world will participate to showcase their talent and secure the ultimate prize. It is the only competition where Raducanu has managed to get past the fourth round, which was back in 2021, when she went all the way and lifted the title, after beating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in the final.

That triumph brought all the limelight to Raducanu, but since then, it has been nothing short of a real struggle for the former world number 10. Raducanu recently featured in the ongoing Canadian Open, where her journey ended in the round of 32 as she lost to America’s Amanda Anisimova in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-1. It was her first defeat against Anisimova in three meetings.

Despite the defeat, by the look of it, it was a decent outing for Raducanu as it was the third consecutive competition this season where she managed to win at least two matches. At Wimbledon, Raducanu defeated fellow countrywoman Mingge Xu in the first round and then got the better of the former champion Marketa Vondrousova in the second round before eventually losing to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the round of 32.

Big task ahead

Then at the DC Open, Raducanu had an extended run. She defeated Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the first, former world number one Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the second and Greece’s Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. All of those victories came in straight sets. However, she eventually lost to Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya in the semifinal with a score of 6-4, 6-3.

That performance pushed her to as high as 33 in the WTA rankings before the start of the Canadian Open. However, her recent third-round defeat, alongside the performances of other players, including the likes of Osaka, Xinyu Wang and Dayana Yastremska, has pushed her to as low as 38th in the live rankings. That will be bad news for Raducanu, who is now at risk of going into the US Open unseeded, as only the top-32 players will be rewarded with a seeded spot in the main draw of a Grand Slam.

It will be interesting to see what Raducanu and her coaching staff will do regarding the upcoming Cincinnati Open. The WTA 1000 event will begin on August 07. As things stand, Raducanu will at least have to win three matches in that competition to give herself a realistic chance of returning amongst the top-32 players in WTA rankings before the start of the mega-event in New York. One thing that does go in favour of Raducanu is the fact that she is not defending any points leading up to the US Open. Last year, she decided to skip all events before taking part in the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year.

Last year, Raducanu had a disappointing outing at the US Open, where she was knocked out after losing to America’s Sofia Kenin in the first round with a score of 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Talking after that, Raducanu was emotional and expressed her disappointment by stating that she really wanted to do well in the competition. "I feel down, I feel sad," said Raducanu back in 2024. "Obviously, this is a tournament I really want to do well in. I was maybe a bit slow starting. Yeah, I would have preferred to probably play a little bit more before coming into the US Open. You know, I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel really good. You feel like everything's automatic. So yeah, I think I can learn from it and manage my schedule slightly differently."